Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Baci di dama

Easter is almost here, and it means... baking!
In my opinion there's nothing better than a sweet gift for your friends: it doesn't get dusty or useless and it contains serotonin, the happiness hormone.
This year I decided to bake baci di dama, which is the italian translation for lady's kisses. They're 100% italian, from Turin to be precisely. The consistency is similar to the cookies' one, but they look completely different. Baci di dama are composed by two cookies kept together by a thin layer of chocolate. If you like hazelnut and chocolate, you will love baci di dama!

The recipe is pretty simple, even if the procedure is a little bit long, so be sure you have a couple of free hours.
This is the recipe I have, it's the basic one, but of course you can personalize it by adding what you like the most (for example I think that coffee or flavor like cinnamon and vanilla can be great with it).

Ingredients for 30 baci di dama

200 gr hazelnut

200 gr sugar

200 gr soft butter

300 gr (or less) flour

1 egg yolk

50 gr dark chocolate

50 ml double cream

Ground finely the hazelnut.

Put the sugar, yolk, flour, hazelnut and butter in a large bowl and knead until they're completely mixed. If it's too soft, put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Prepare two baking trays, then shape little balls with the cookie dough. They shoud be same size.